Orly airport: Drugs, alcohol found in gunman s blood

Paris March 20 (IANS) Blood tests have revealed that a gunman who attacked soldiers at Orly airport in the French capital here on Saturday had consumed drugs and alcohol a media report said on Monday.

Ziyed Ben Belgacem 39 was killed after he put a gun to a soldier s head saying he wanted to die for Allah.

Paris prosecutors office said toxicology tests during his autopsy found traces of cocaine and cannabis the BBC said.

Belgacem also had an alcohol level of 0.93g per litre of blood nearly twice the legal limit for driving in France.

He is said to have been radicalised in prison and was on a police watch-list.

He was involved in a shooting and then a carjacking on Saturday before he attacked a military patrol at Orly Paris s second-biggest airport the BBC report said.

The suspect s criminal record included convictions for armed robbery and drugs offences Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters late on Saturday.

In an interview with French radio Europe 1 on Sunday a man identified as the suspect s father said Belgacem was not a practicing Muslim and drank alcohol.

My son was not a terrorist. He never prayed and he drank. But under the effects of alcohol and cannabis this is where one ends up the father said. Europe 1 did not give his name.

The father was released from police custody overnight on Saturday while Belgacem s brother and a cousin were released later on Sunday.

--IANS
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